Safety-valve.



P. GENSHEIMEH.

SAFETY VALVE.

APPUCATION HLED 0cT.30.1912

1,162,153, 7 Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

@m E M 1 w ATTORNEY @FFEQE.

PHILIP? GENSHEQEMER, OE ELIZABETH, NEW JERSEY, ASSIGNOR TO GOLDSCHMIDT DETINNING COMPANY, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., .A. CORPORATION OF NEW JERSEY.

SAFETY-VALVE.

Specification of Letters Patent;

Patented Nov. 30, 1915.

Application filed October 30, 1912. Serial No. 728,607..

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PHILIPP GENSHEIMER, subject of the King of Prussia, German Emperor, and resident of Elizabeth, in the county of Union and State of New Jersey, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Safety-Valves, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to a safety-valve, and especially to a safety-valve for controlling the delivery of highly volatile fluids held under pressure in strong vessels, such for example as liquid chlorin, which is ordinarily shipped in strong steel containers or tanks. I

It has been found that'with such highly volatile fluids held under high pressure and possessing great penetration, which results in leakage if there is the smallest opening for the escape of such a fluid, it is desirable to employ a safety-valve of special construction having strong walls and thoroughly gas-tight connections .at every point where there is any joint through which leakage might take place if such joint were not thoroughly packed. It'is also desirable in connection with a safety-valve of this type particularly when used in connection with such a fluid as liquid chlorin, to employ means for permitting the escape of the fluid through a suitable outlet in the valve-casing in the event that the container or tank in which the fluid is held becomes unduly heated up in any way. For this reason there is provided in connection with the present safety valve a seal automatically destructible by a rise of temperature to or beyond the predetermined point, the preferred construction being one in which the outlet from the valve-casing to the air is normally sealed by a fusible plug having a low melting point.

The safety-valve employed also embodies means for holding the valve'proper closed against-a certain normal or predetermined pressure of the fluid which itis intended to confine within the container or tank to which the safety-valve is applied. This pressure may be any that may be desired, and means will be provided for varying the pressure on the valve as desired, and particularly for holding it to its seat however the pressure in the container may vary so long as said pressure does not rise above a certain predetermined limit. When said pressure reaches said limit, however, the pressure on the valve tending to hold it to its seat is intended to be overcome. The pressure applied by the spring to hold it to its seat until the pressure in the container rises above the danger point, usually as the result of an insure at which the valve is set to openand the temperature at which the seal is automatically destroyed bear, as just stated, a predetermined relation to each other.

Other features of the invention not here inbefore referred to will be hereinafter described and claimed and are illustrated in the accompanying drawing, which shows in' longitudinal section a combined safety valve and destructible seal embodying the invention, with the valve in operative relation with,a vessel to be protected.

The vessel to which the safety-valve is intended to be applied may be of any suitable type and construction provided the walls thereof are sufliciently strong to hold the pressure of the contained fluid. T designates generally a portion of such a vessel, it usually being a steel tank with walls of suflicient thickness to hold the pressure present when liquid chlorin is the fluid confined. As shown, this vessel has an annular groove, 2,-adapted to receive a corresponding tongue, 3, of the safety-valve attached to the vessel, the'construction being such as to permit said groove to hold a packing ring or gasket, such as 4, for the purpose of making the joint between the safety-valve and the container gas-tight.

The safety-valve used is-preferab'ly of the type indicated generally by V. In this construction the valve/casing comprises two parts one of which is the main member and is indicated at 5, while the other is sub stantially a'cover for the main member and is shown at 6. The lower portion of the main member has a substantially annular flange, 7, from which the annular tongue 3 projects into the groove 2 of the container and this flange has the usual bolt-holes, 8, by means of which it may be tightly secured to said container. The two members of the valve-casing are also preferably secured together in ,a manner similar to that described with respect to the connection between the main'member and the container. In other words, there is preferably. a tongue and groove connection between the twoparts of the valve-casing as well as between the valve-casing and the container or tank. This tongue and groove connection is similar to that just described, it comprising an annular tongue, 9, and a corresponding groove, 10, with a packing ring or gasket, 11, interposed between them, bolts being shown at 12 for fastening the two parts of the casing securely together to make the valve-casing gastight at the point of connection of the two sections; so that therewill be a gas-tight connection between the sections of the casing as well as between the casing and the tank.

Both the main member and the cover 6 of the casing are bored longitudinally of the casing for the reception of a suitable valve and valve-stem, and in addition the main member 5 is chambered, as shown at 13, for the reception of various parts co6perative with the valve and for the purpose of providing communication betweentwo outlets from the casing. One of these outlets leads to the open air and the other leads to the tank. The former is shown as having two diameters, the two portions being designated respectively by 14 and 15, while the latter is indicated at 16. The outlet 16 is intended to be controlled by the valve directly, while the outlet 14 is intended to be closed, as before stated, by a seal which will be ruptured when the temperature passes a predetermined point. At the upper end of the outlet passage 16 shown in the drawings is a tapered valve-seat 17, cooperative with a correspondingly tapered portion of a valve, 18, to which is connected a valve-stem, 19, the outer end of which extends substantially to the top of the cover 6 and is provided with means, such as the short I-rod 20, screwed into the outer end of the stem 19 for engage- -ment by a testing instrument. The valve is intended to be held to its seat 17 under predetermined pressure, which will preferably be exerted by a strong spring coiled about the stem-19 and working in the chamber 13 between a suitable stop-face at the inner side of the cover6 and another stop on the valvestem itself; Such a coiled spring is indicated at 21.v The I-rod 20 is provided for the 1 purpose of determining whether the pressure .exerted by this spring on the valve is sufficient. The pressure ofthe spring may be varied as necessary and in the construction shown means are provided for that purpose. The means shown consist of a pair of nuts,

one being an adjusting nut and the other a check nut bearing against the under side of a collar or thimble surrounding the valve stem 19. These two nuts are designated respectively by 22 and'23 and the collar by 24. The collar shown has a flange with a journal surface that bears against and slides on a corresponding surface, 25, of the main member of the'valve-casing, the nuts being at the side of the collar opposite that against which the spring bears. The construction is one that prevents any change in the setting of the valve, that is, any change in the pressure required to lift the valve, without dismantling the whole valve, as the adjusting partsare inclosed within the body of the main member of the casing and cannot be gotten at until the valve is taken apart. Tampering with the adjustment is thus rendered impossible,

For the purpose of preventing any leakage of the confined fluid along the surfaces of the valve-stem the extreme outer or upper end of the stem is also, in this construction,

completely inclosed in agas-tight casing.

Here the cover 6 has a threaded extension, 26, on to which is screwed an internally threaded cap, 27 and between this cap and the upper end of the extension 26 is placed a packing ring or gasket, 28, so as to form at this point a gas-tight joint, it being obvious that the joint between the screw-cap and the extension 26 may be closed by tightly screwing down the cap 27. To test the pressure of the spring it is only necessary to remove this cap 27 and apply the usual testing instrument.

In connection with the elements just described for determining and controlling the pressure at which the valve will lift and open, there is also provided, as before stated, a seal that will be ruptured automatically by a temperature bearing a predetermined relation to the pressure that will lift the valve. The preferred means employed for this purpose is afusible plug of metal, such as indicated'at 15', having a low melting point, usually about 400 F., this seal being formed by melting the metal and running it into the chamber 15 which it fills and in which it is securely held by the screw threads in the wall of said chamber. When the external temperature passes the-melting point this plug or seal will of course be melted and an outlet provided for the escape of the contents of the tank T as soon as the pressure due to the rise in temperature reaches the point where it will lift and open the valve.

The combined safety-valve and fusible plug just described constitutes a very strong,

trating fluid as liquid chlorin, and yet permits the escape ofsuch a confined fluid into the open air gradually in an emergencyas, for example, when a tank car' containing such fluid comes into a fire zone, the fusible plug melting and the valve lifting in that event in time to prevent bursting of the tank.

What I claim is:

1. A safety valve for vessels which are adapted to hold highly volatile fluids, comprising a gas-tight valve casing'having a pair of passages, one leading from said vessel and the other leading to the open air, a

fusible gas-tight seal for said passage leading to the air, and a valve normally cutting off communication between said passages and designed to open when the pressure in the vessel reaches a predetermined maximum due to an increase in temperature, the

- said fusible seal being designed to fuse at the lowest temperature that will increase the pressure in the vessel sufliciently to open the valve.

2. A safety valve for vessels which are I ing to the air, a spring-held valve normally I cutting off communication between said passages and designed to open when the pressure in the vessel increases to a predetermined maximum, and' means for varying the pressure exerted on the valve by the spring, said fusible seal being designed to fuse at the lowest temperature which in creases the pressure in the vessel sufficiently to open the valve.

3. A safety valve for vessels which are adapted to hold highly volatile fluids, comprising a gas-tight valve casing having a pair of passages one leading from said vessel and the other leading to the open air, a fusible gas-tight seal for said passage leading to the air, a spring-held valve normally cutting off communication between said passages and designed to open under pressure in the vessel which bears a predetermined relation with a temperature for which the 7 seal is designed to fuse.

PHILIPP GENSHEIMER.

Witnesses:

W. KIPPINGER, ROBERT F. GREACEN. 

